Cheesy Baked Spaghetti And Meatballs Recipe

Growing up, spaghetti and meatballs looked like this—spaghetti topped with a ladle full of “spaghetti sauce” and 3-4 meatballs. The sauce was never quite mixed in and the only topping was a dusting of finely grated Parmesan cheese. It was fine, but nothing to get excited about.

Cheesy baked spaghetti and meatballs is a whole different ballgame. Spaghetti tossed in marinara and baked with simple homemade meatballs with a melted layer of an Italian blend of cheeses. The pasta has an amazing overall thicker texture thanks to baking in a skillet. It will change the way you look at spaghetti and meatballs forever.

This recipe is all made in a cast iron skillet for easy stove to oven transfer with minimal pots. You just need an extra pot to boil the spaghetti…sorry.

How to Make Easy Homemade Meatballs

Homemade meatballs sound intimidating and time-consuming, however, it’s just the opposite. If you’ve made seasoned burgers or meatloaf then you’ve basically made giant meatballs. This is my mother’s recipe with a few tweaks.

The meatball mix consists of a 50-50 split of ground beef and sweet Italian sausage, finely chopped celery, breadcrumbs (panko or regular), milk, Parmesan cheese, egg, garlic and onion powder, salt, and pepper.

Mix well with your hands, roll into 1-inch uniform balls, brown in a skillet with olive oil and then bake with the spaghetti, marinara, and cheese. You can even make these meatballs eggless with solid results.

Just to note, fresh meatballs will need to bake in the oven for about 20 minutes to fully cook. The browning in the skillet will start the process and give them a nice texture.

Can I Use Frozen Meatballs?

You can, however, you just may want to heat them in a saucepan with some marinara beforehand to warm up or defrost for an hour or so. They will bake in the oven however depending on the size and thickness they may not be finished during the 20 minute baking period.

The Cheese Topping

For this recipe, I used about 1 1/2 cups of an Italian blend of pre-shredded cheese. Mozzarella, provolone, romano, fontina, asiago, and parmesan. I think it adds a lot of character to the dish but you can also you plain shredded mozzarella. I usually opt for fresh mozzarella but for this recipe, shredded low moisture mozzarella works best for a nice layer of cheese.

Marinara

I almost exclusively use Rao’s marinara in my pasta dishes. No, they’re not paying me to say this although they should be. It’s a phenomenal sauce with the right thickness and well-balanced flavor. Marinara will make or break you’re dish so I recommend opting for a nicer one you know and love. I usually stick Rao’s traditional marinara however they do have different seasoned and spiced variations.

You’ll Also Love

• Creamy pasta shells
• Sausage and ricotta stuffed shells
• No-boil baked ziti with sausage and ricotta
• Baked rigatoni
• Not your mom’s American chop suey
• Cheesy baked gnocchi
• Eggplant parmesan
• Chicken parmesan

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